Helmsley shop's sweet idea to raise cash for Ryedale Food Bank

A shop in Helmsley is re-opening with a raft of ideas to help raise money for the Ryedale Food Bank.

Lynn Hempsall, who owns Helmsley Traditional Sweet Shop, decided she wanted to do something following the sad news of the death of award-winning York teacher Mark Barnett, who died after a battle with covid-19.

He was heavily involved in the food bank.

In his memory, and to help the remarkable work the food bank has been doing to keep people fed during the pandemic, the Sweet Shop has reopened with several ways to help raise money for the worthy cause.

Shoppers will be able to buy a £1 raffle ticket for a sweet hamper full of goodies worth over £25 – with tickets available online, in store and via the shop’s social media. All the proceeds will go to the Ryedale Food Bank and the raffle will be drawn on 17th July.

In addition, Helmsley Traditional Sweet Shop has introduced a number of new items, such as a pic n mix box and a nostalgia goodie box – and for every one purchased in the first month of opening, 10% of the price will be donated to the charity.

The shop has also used its time closed to change its packaging and labels to be more environmentally friendly, and now has many empty sweet jars available for people to take home.

They can be used in a multitude of ways, such as for storage or toys.

People are welcome to collect them from the shop but are asked to make a small monetary donation to the Ryedale Food Bank in exchange.

The Sweet Shop, which reopened its Barker’s Yard premises on June 17th, has had to reinvent itself as a Sweetie Kiosk following lockdown, serving from a counter set up at the door, as the shop isn’t large enough to allow for a 2m distance between shoppers.

Lynn Hempsall said:

“I really was very saddened to hear of the passing of Mark Barnett early on in the pandemic as he was a lovely man who was heavily involved with the food banks in a wonderful way.

This fundraising is to pay tribute to all his hard work and the hard work of all the other volunteers who have done so much during the lockdown to ensure people have had access to food.

We count ourselves as very lucky we still have a business to re-open and that we have managed to keep all our staff, but there are so many heartbreaking stories of others who have not been so lucky and are needing a bit of help now.

We want to thank all our lovely customers who have ordered for local delivery and from our website over the recent months.

We have had to reinvent ourselves a bit, but hopefully they’ll like our temporary new kiosk format!

We hope people come along and support all the local businesses who so desperately need to get back up and running.

We look forward to – safely – seeing people soon.”

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